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Credit: CBS/Inside the MagicThe Walt Disney Company just escalated its latest lawsuit against the Central Florida Tourist Oversight District and Governor Ron DeSantis, asking a judge to force its board to “fulfill empty promises” in the next seven calendar days, or else.
Last week, Disney filed a new lawsuit against DeSantis and the CFTOD board, which was appointed by the governor and alleged to be a political weapon against Walt Disney World. The new suit accused the board of unlawfully withholding public documents relevant to ongoing legal issues and demanding they be produced immediately. Now, Disney has filed a new motion to compel discovery, stating that it has never even been given the documents necessary for the original lawsuit filed in May 2023.
Related: DeSantis Board Spent Hundreds of Thousands of Taxpayer Dollars To Accuse Disney of Mishandling Money
The motion from Disney reads (in part):
“The District has repeatedly missed agreed-upon deadlines and deprived [Walt Disney Parks and Resorts] of the critical discovery it needs to develop its affirmative defenses, counterclaims, and arguments in opposition to the District’s Complaint. Despite WDPR’s good faith efforts to obtain discovery from the District, the Court’s intervention is now necessary to ensure that WDPR can fairly defend itself against the District’s claims and advance its counterclaims…
WDPR cannot let more time pass waiting for the District to fulfill its empty promises to produce the critical discovery WDPR needs both to defend against the District’s claims and advance its own counterclaims.”
The Disney filing goes on to ask the court to require DeSantis and the CFTOD to produce the documents “within seven calendar days of an Order granting this motion,” essentially forcing the board to stop dragging its feet.
Additionally, the filing asserts that Disney has the right to know if the CFTOD board, which replaced the former Reedy Creek Improvement District and its board, was appointed because of any particular qualifications of simply due to loyalty to Governor DeSantis.
“WDPR is entitled to know why District Administrator Glenton Gilzean and the new District Board members were selected for their respective roles—chiefly, whether the District Administrator and the new District Board were selected based on their willingness to continue the State’s campaign of retaliation against WDPR for expressing a viewpoint that Governor DeSantis and his legislative allies disagree with.”
Related: South Carolina Joins DeSantis, Deals $105 Million Blow To “Woke” Disney
Currently, Disney and DeSantis (and, by extension, the CFTOD) are locked in numerous legal battles, including a lawsuit in which the iconic media company accuses the governor of violating its First Amendment rights in political retaliation.
You can read the full motion to compel discovery filing in Central Florida Tourism Oversight District v. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S., Inc. here:
Inside the Magic reached out to Disney and the CFTOD for comment, but has not heard back by the time of publishing.
Do you think the CFTOD is withholding documents from Disney? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below.